Orvill w



(No Model.)

O. W. WAY.

STOGKING CLASP.

Patented Nov. 20, 1883.

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l UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE,

ORVILL \VAY, OF TROY, NEW YORK, ASSIG-NOR OF ONE-HALF TO JAMES \V. DUSENBURY, OF SAME PLACE.

STOCKlNG-CLASR' SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 288,749, dated November 20, 1883-.

Application filed February 26, 1883. (No model.) I

To all whom, it may concern:

Be it known that I, ORVILL W. WAY, of the city of Troy, county of Rensselaer and State of New York, have invented a new and useful Improvement in Stocking-Clasp Fasteners, of which the following is a specification.

My invention relates to certain improvements in the construction and manufacture of that class of devices which are used to hold up and keep in place stockings and similar articles; and the object of my invention is to simplify the construction and operation of such devices, and thus better adapt them to perform the work for which they are designed.

My invention consists, as will hereinafter be more fully described, in the combination, with a clamping device constructed with two jaws connected by a hinging pin or shaft, and a helical spring surrounding said shaft or pin, the opposite spreading arm ends of l which spring force the jaws to contact, and the lower jaw being provided with a pin and boss or knob on the end of the pin, projected upwardly therefrom and adapted to enter a slot cut into the front end of the upper jaw for the passage of said knob or boss and pin, of aprick-punch opening made in the face of the lower jaw, the raw rough edges of which proj ect upwardly into a slot in the upper j aw, between the spring and the boss-pin, when the jaws are closed.

In the accompanying sheet of drawings, forming a part of this specification, there are shown four figures illustrating my invention, and in all of which the same designation of parts by letter-reference is used.

Figure l is a perspective of my improved device; Fig. 2, a longitudinal vertical section of it. Fig. 3 is a perspective of the same device illustrated in Figs. 1 and 2, shown with the jaws forced open against the closing force of the helical spring. Fig. 4 is a perspective of the helical spring removed from the device.

The several parts of the device are designated by letter-reference and their function explained as follows:

The letters J and J 2 indicate the clampingjaws, made with projecting ears at each side,

as designated at e, and the letter S a shaft or hinging-pin passing through bearings in said ears. The letter D indicates a helical spring encircling the said shaft or hinging-pin, the end arms of which spring, as indicated at an, are in contact with the under side of the up- 5 5 per and the upper surface of the lower jaw tail-pieces O and O and in forcing the tailpieces apartcause the front ends of the jaws to close. The jaws thus made and arranged to be thus operated by a spring constitute an old and well-known device; and my invention c011- sists in adapting such a device, by its reconstruction, to operate as a stocking-clasp fasttener by combining therewith the pin P and terminal boss or knob B, constructed to project upwardly from 'the face of the under jaw, J and constructing in the end of the upper jaw, J, the opening or slot A, and the further combination therewith of the prick-punch opening or projection V, made in the lower 79 jaw, to projectupwardly into the slot A, or an opening in the upper jaw separate from the slot indicated at (l, or with the latter continued as a part of the slot.

Asshown in the annexed drawings, the end '75 of the under jaw, J underlaps that of the-upper jaw, J, where the jaws come in contact, the object of which is to. give a broad support and flat bearing for the device against the person of the wearer, such underlapping ex- 8o tension of the lower jaw being indicated at J This latter feature, though a useful one, is not an indispensable one, and may be omitted, if desired.

The letter m indicates a slot formed in the extension of the under jaw, and m a like opening formed in the tail-piece of the under jaw, the latter opening being intended for strap attachment to the device.

As thus constructed, with the stocking-top 9o placed between the open jaws and over the boss B, when the jaws are closed by the force of the spring, the boss and slot firmlyiclasp the fabric, so as to securely hold the latter and as an additional means to secure the same, the 5 prick-punch projection V presses the fabric within the opening (I. The device as thus made is easily detached by pressing together the tail-pieces, so as to open the'jaws.

I am well aware that two clampingjaws IOO actuated by a spring to close, with the jaws toothed at the front where they engage, have been used for the same purpose as my device; but the toothed ends are objectionable, in the fact that they tear and injure the fabric.

1 am also aware that two plates have been used, in which device the lower plate at its end was constructed with a pin and boss, and the upper plate at its end slotted and constructed to slide around the pin, and thus inelose the fabric; but to operate this device the use of both hands is required. My device differs from this, in the fact that no slotted sliding plate is used to form a grasping contact by means of a boss and pin, and in the further fact that it can be operated by the thumb and finger of one hand, while the other requires the use of both hands.

Having thus described my inven tion, what I claim, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, 1s-

In a stocking-clasp, the combination of the 20 upper jaw, J, constructed with the end slot, A, and opening d, the lower jaw, J constructed with the upwardly-projected pin P, terminal boss or knob B, and the projection V, with the knob or boss B, adapted to enter said slot A, and the projection V the opening 01, when the jaws are closed, and the helical spring D, arranged upon and around the shaft or pin by which the jaws are hinged, with the spreading end arms of the springs in contact with theinteri or surfaces of the tail pieces 0 0 as herein shown and described.

, Signed at Troy, New York, this 21st day of February, 1883.

ORVILL W. WAY. Witnesses:

CHARLES S. BRINTNALL, SUMNER P. HUNT. 

